Devil's Advocate
by InsertHilariousPenNameHere
Summary: SI. A deal with the literal devil has sent our main character hurtling throughout realities, with one instruction - be the bad guy. First stop: Avatar.
1. Chapter 1

_**Devil's Advocate**_

 **Bartering 1.1**

I rubbed my eyes, partly in a motion of weariness, partly one of exasperation, and partly one of disbelief. The object of my exhaustion, exasperation, and disbelief stood before me, arms crossed and goat head – somehow – bearing a shit-eating grin. Red skin rippled over obscenely bulging muscles, dainty, clawed hands resting on his biceps. His shaggy, goat-legged lower half remained in an easy stance, although the backwards-bending knee was creeping me out.

Hell, the whole fucking _thing_ was creeping me out.

Around us, mist drifted, a pale sun glimmering weakly beyond the clouds. The being before me shifted as a patch of sunlight raced across his slit eyes, and he tucked a lock of straight hair behind a ram's horn.

"Well?" He asked, in a ridiculously smooth, deep baritone. It sounded... _bizarre_ , coming from that absurd goat head. "Are you going to accept?"

"Lemme just..." I paused momentarily and rubbed my temples. "Lemme just run over the terms again." I took a breath. The being before me snorted and turned, facing off into the imperceptible distance. "So, I will be given a form of... Immortality, and in exchange, I'll be sent on a trip throughout realities to perform a 'small task,'" I raised my fingers in air quotes, "in each, and in exchange..." The goat-man-thing turned to face me again. "You take my soul."

"That about sums it up." He smiled, sharply filed canines became visible in the goat's mouth. "I take it you'll accept?" A black tongue, forked, darted out of his mouth at the words, briefly flickering over his teeth.

"Hell no!" I yelled heatedly. "I'm not giving you my fucking soul! What kind of idiot would take that deal?!"

"You'd be surprised." The being – honestly, the only way to refer to it was as the Devil – replied, blasé. "Anyway, really, I'm offering you a loophole of sorts. You don't have much use for a soul."

"Not much use for a-!" I began, becoming indignant in my disbelief.

The Devil cut me off. "The _only_ use for your soul is as a test of purity. It records all your good and evil deeds. If you don't have one, then you spend an eternity in Purgatory – or if you're unlucky, you take the express line to Hell."

"THEN WHY THE HELL WOULD I GIVE YOU-!" I roared this time, my old anger flaring.

"Because _that_ particular downside only comes into effect upon your death." The Devil's voice cut right through my words, despite his voice being so much quieter. "And as I am offering you immortality..."

"... Oh." I paused, trying to wrap my head around this whole thing. "But-"

"Listen, kid," the Devil sighed, holding up a hand. "You died, alright? _Buuut_ , fortunately enough for you, something came up. Some pure-hearted idiot made a dying wish, and those fucking brain-dead angels granted it without thorough research." He shook his head, before taking on a high, mocking voice. "'Oh, look at me, I'm wishing for all the heroes to have a happy ending, I'm such a saint!' What a poser. Now we've got a potentially _multiversal crisis_ on our hands and- well, the details aren't important. I just need to know if we have a deal."

I remained speechless for a moment. Then I shook my head. "Maybe if you told me what this small task _was-_ "

"Okay, in essence," that freaking Devil cut me off _again_ , "The dying idiot's wish got granted multiversal approval, because dying wish, pure of heart, et cetera et cetera. Unfortunately, what he angels didn't take into account was that _one fucking wish cannot alter all of fucking reality._ So now, all those stories you loved have been thrown into fucking _disarray_. It's fucking chaos in the timeline, and we've been snatching up deadoes to put things back on track. I want you to take on a few of the more vexing cases. The last few guys did a _terrible_ job, so you need to fix that shit up. Unfortunately, deals with the devil and all, I need your soul to maintain balance. _So_ , I take your soul, you get immortality while you deal with the alternate realities, and once the job is done, I put in a good word for you with the saints manning Purgatory."

"... Why the fuck am I not freaking out right now?" I whispered to myself, and dropped to the floor bonelessly, seating myself cross-legged. The Devil joined, floating a few inches of the ground as he dropped.

"Well, it's a little hard to feel emotions when you're dead." The Devil said. "Listen," here he took on a slightly more comforting tone. "I just need you to pop over to your favourite fictional worlds, pretend to be the bad guy for a little bit and scare the heroes back on track. It's that, or spend a few centuries in Purgatory while the guys upstairs _hemm_ and _haww_ over whether you should get in."

 _Carrot and the fucking stick_ , I thought bitterly. _He's the fucking Devil, what did I expect_.

Said Devil remained silent as I contemplated his words. Then I let out a harsh bark of laughter. "How the fuck am I supposed to be the bad guy? I'm just a dumb teen. I don't know shit about making a master plan or-"

"You don't have to." The Devil replied rising to his feet. He seemed to sense my weakening reluctance. "You have enough of knowledge of where you're going to at least get started. And the space where your soul used to be means you have plenty of room for whatever magical abilities you pick up along the way."

I perked up at that. As shallow as it was, wasn't it everyone's dreams to be able to do the impossible? To break the laws of physics and create something out of nothing?

The Devil grinned. I could almost picture him thinking to himself, _hook, line, aaaannnnd..._

"... Fine." I muttered.

 _Sinker!_

 **~/DA\\\~**

I woke up woozy. Normally I was fairly clear-headed in the mornings, but today I felt a harsh, staticky buzz in the back of my brain, like a chainsaw roaring in the distance. My mouth felt furry and dry, my lips were cracked, and I was hoarse as a motherfucker.

I levered myself into a sitting position from where I was slumped, raw, harsh, hacking coughs tearing themselves from my throat. I blinked as I climbed unsteadily to my feet. I blinked woozily and peered around. I was... On a porch? It looked like some feudal-era Japan bullshit – sliding paper doors, and trees with sakura blossoms. Past the house there was a dirt road, winding through an opening and leading out onto a cliff path of some kind. I blinked again and looked down.

I was dressed in some... casual-slash-fancy-looking red and black garb, loose trousers terminating in... sandals? And this 'shirt...' It was clearly summer, but it was open-chested and sleeveless. Wasn't that a little over the top?

As I pondered my state of dress, and what was actually going on, the paper door to my left slammed open. An old man leaned out, wrinkly leather skin creasing in consternation as he gazed around. When his eyes had examined the portion of the house to his left, they swung over to me, and those squinted eyes widened, mouth downturned, and teeth bared.

"Hey!" He yelled in a vaguely Chinese accent. Well, maybe not Chinese. Some kind of Asian, though. "What are you doing on my property!?"

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, mister-" I began apologetically, but he bulldozed over my words.

"Pia-Ling!" He yelled, whipping his head round to face the house. "Grab the broom! There's an intruder!"

There was a muffled sound from within the house, and the old man withdrew completely from the house and advanced, an old broom clutched tightly in his creaky, arthritic fists.

"Now, uh, please just wait a minute," I protested. "This is all a big misunderstanding-!"

"Hee-YAH!" The old man screeched as a war cry, jumping forward in a manner _far_ too athletic for a main of his age, and brought the broom down solidly on my head. The bristles scratched at my face as I backpedaled. The old man continued to advance. "I! Will! Not! Tolerate! Trespassers!" With each word he brought the wooden broom down solidly on my head. I had backed away with each hit and we were now standing beside the rustic house.

"Please, if you'd just let me explain-!" I tried again, because as annoying as this was I _really_ didn't want to have to hurt the old man.

"You! Will! Explain! Nothing- Gah!" As he swung the broom down with that final word, I grew angry. I _hated_ when miscommunication lead to fighting, and this rancid old fucker wouldn't listen! I shot both hands up in a cross-guard to block the broom, fury filling my motions and as I did so...

"ENOUGH!"

 _*WHOOSH*_

Two jets of flame shot out of my palms. The one from my right dissipated harmlessly into the open air. The blast from my left, however...

Dry wooden walls blazed into life, and roaring flames crackled as they consumed the entire right wall in an instant. The old man, however, only had eyes for me. He had fallen backwards onto his back, broom clattering to the floor as the tips of the bristles smoked. Fear leant his old eyes animation and he quavered in fright, trembling.

"F-Firebender..." He muttered. I backed away a step. Muffled coughs were heard from inside the still blazing building, and the old man's head whipped round to it. "Pia!" He yelled, trying to scramble to his feet, but his back had given out and he could only collapse onto his front and crawl towards the paper door. I stepped forward, intent on helping him up, but he wailed in fear. "Stay back! Don't hurt me! Please! PIA!"

An old woman stumbled out of the house as I stood frozen in horror. Soot streaked her face, hair and clothes, her robes smoking slightly. Even as she let out several hacking coughs, She hurried over to where her husband lay, and fell to her knees beside him. As she cradled him in her arms, the blazing house still crackling away, fury and fear in her eyes, she turned to me.

"Run, Firebender. Run, or kill me right now." She muttered, voice dead with fury. Her husband whimpered in her arms.

I ran.

 **~/DA\\\~**

The cliff path lead down below a mountainside, winding through the forest and terminating in a small village. I stumbled along the path, half-running and half-tripping, tears blurring my vision. I hadn't wanted to- I hadn't meant to- I didn't want to-!

I gulped down a breath and swallowed. I was hungry and thirsty and tired. I hadjust set a house ablaze and nearly killed an elderly couple. I was in dire need of shelter. I needed to get to that village.

I stumbled through the forest and collapsed to my knees, completely blind to where I was going. I put my arms out in front of me, falling to the floor, and heaved a few shuddering breaths. I hadn't even done that much, but I could already feel the adrenaline flooding out of my system, leaving me shaky and jittery. I felt physically _ill_ at the suffering I'd caused – suffering that had taken less than ten minutes.

I lay on my side, breathing heavily, stared into the blue sky, and began to drift...

 **~/DA\\\~**

 **So, I haven't written anything in a while, but like the scumlord I am I decided to start something new – a Multiverse SI. Please leave feedback, I know I'm not too great of a writer, but I do want to improve. Thanks.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Devil's Advocate**_

 **Bartering 1.2**

This was the second time I'd awoken to the feeling of a dry, furry mouth and hoarse throat. And in the same day, no less. I groaned as I levered myself to my feet once more, but held back on the hacking coughs. Even if I _was_ in the middle of the forest, I should probably be a lot more cautious. I didn't want a repeat of what happened... Fuck, a few _hours_ ago.

I shook my head and looked up. The sun was beginning to sink, and I estimated it to be about mid-afternoon. So I had some time to find shelter before dusk. But more important than that...

I needed to control my Firebending. That was absolutely paramount. Quite apart from the fact that I could cause some _serious_ damage if I wasn't careful, the fact that it could activate without me even wanting it to meant that I could out my identity by accident. And given the way that old man had reacted to firebending, and the fact that this wasn't an icy tundra... I was fairly sure I was in the Earth Kingdom.

Christ. Firebending. Earth Kingdom. The fuck was I even _doing_ here? 'Scaring' the heroes back on track? Learning Firebending?

Despite myself, I felt a little spark of joy dance in my stomach. I could create _fire_. I could do motherfucking _elemental magic._ How could you not be in awe of that?

I shook my head. As joyful as I was, I needed to be careful of my fire. It could hurt me, going by Zuko's face scar, and it could hurt others – as I had discovered personally. So find somewhere relatively safe to practice.

I turned around and... Ah. I had apparently wandered fairly far from the path through the forest, given that I couldn't see it anymore. I ' _hmmmed_ ' aloud and turned around once more. There was... a shallow incline in one direction, so the other direction – probably – pointed towards the village I had seen earlier. So I knew the general direction it was in, but before I went there, I needed to try and control my Firebending.

I walked in the vague direction of the village, taking a zigzag pattern to see if I could find any clearings. It didn't take a long – I was only walking for maybe ten minutes before the forest began to think into a strip of land, fairly long. I wasn't too god at distances, but... Yeah, fairly long. There were trees on either side of the clearing, but I couldn't see any signs of a road passing through here.

I stood in the centre of the clearing, still feeling a little weak from my lack of food, rest, or water. No matter. I could finish this up quickly, head down to the village, and see if I could find anything there.

I sucked in a deep breath, then focused. I didn't... _Feel_ any different, I couldn't suddenly feel a source of 'chi' inside me, or whatever it was Firebenders used. I could only think back to what had happened before – I'd gotten very angry, and bent fire. That was all I had to go on. Anger. That was canon, wasn't it? Ozai had taught Firebenders to use their hatred, or something? And when Zuko had lost his, he lost his Firebending.

Okay. So anger. It probably wasn't a great way to get started, but I doubted I would find any dragons to teach me the true way to Firebend.

I closed my eyes and thought back to something that had made me _really_ angry. I thought of my little brother, the annoying brat who had been the source of most of by anger. But the thought of him didn't make me angry, just... Sad. Because I... I might never see him again. All because of that _fucking Devil-_

My fists tightened by my side and I held them up in front of me, in a vague approximation of a fighting stance. I tightened my focus, picturing that fucking goat-man smirking n a way that was _anatomically impossible for a goat head_ , and jabbed my left hand forward.

A short bust of flame roared from my fist, maybe the size of my head. It dissipated a metre or so from my body. I took a step and jabbed with my other hand, and another jet roared from my fist, this time a little larger, and dissipating a little further from my body.

Step. Punch. _Fire._ Step. Punch. _Fire._ Step. Punch. _Fire._

I took a final step, drew my hand back, and, in a poor impersonation of what I'd left from my karate classes as a child, twisted my fist as I punched and stepped forward, putting the whole of my body into the punch, and-

A roaring burst of flame, maybe half the size of me, _exploded_ from my palm and roared forward, trailing spark and embers. It shot forward for half the length of the clearing before shedding fire, getting weaker and weaker as it lengthened the distance between us, before finally dissipating.

I stood there panting for a moment. I was absolutely _drenched_ in sweat, though whether from the heat or the exertion I was unsure. I sat down heavily, arms resting on my knees before I fell back to lie down. Man, I was _tired_. Firebending takes a lot out of a guy.

I looked to the sky. The sun had sunk lower in the sky, and it was beginning to get darker. The sky was being painted in reds and oranges, and I could already tell it would be a beautiful sunset. Although... That reminded me- Sozin's comet. Hell, the whole freaking plot- I didn't even know when the hell I _was_!

Not to mention that, apparently, there was something going on with the timeline that had fucked it up? So even if I knew when I was – which I _didn't –_ it didn't necessarily mean that it would be all that helpful.

There were impossible numbers of things that could be different, and I didn't even remember the series all that well.

For the first time I began to actually wonder whether I could do this. That-fucking-Devil had said that the last people who'd tried it had failed – implying that there had been others who had tried this and had been unable to scare the heroes straight.

The most important thing at the moment was finding the Avatar. Then it was find out what was different, then find out how to fix it.

I sighed shakily. I was way out of my depth.

 **~/DA\\\~**

I had made way into the Earth Kingdom town at the base of the mountain shortly after that. I wasn't sure I had _total_ control over my powers, but... As long as I didn't get too angry, I was fairly sure nothing bad would happen.

 _Unfortunately_ , I was pretty conspicuous. My clothes weren't exactly traditional Earth Kingdom style, and they were fairly distinctive. So I needed to get some new clothes, some food, and a place to stay.

Which brought me to my second problem – I had no money. None at all, not even a few loose coins in the hidden pockets in my trousers. So I had to find work... Somehow. I could probably do some menial tasks, just to get myself back on my feet, and then I would need to find the Avatar. Plus, working in a shop or something would allow me to pick up on some of the gossip, maybe help me find out _when_ I was.

I entered through what passed for the main gates in short order. The two Earth Kingdom guards gave odd looks as I past, but didn't apprehend me. They were unarmed – which, unfortunately, only made them more dangerous, since they were probably Earthbenders. I pulled my shirt (if it had enough fabric to be _called_ a shirt) tighter across my chest and hurried along, eyes downcast.

My hair was slightly longer, I had noticed. Unfortunately, it kept to the ridiculous growth of my last hair, in that it got progressively thicker and shaggier the longer it got. Plus, I could already feel bristles poking through on my cheeks, chin, and upper lip. I wonder how the hell I was going to shave – I couldn't avoid cutting myself with a regular razor, never mind having to use a knife. I'd probably bleed to death trying to keep control over my sideburns.

Still, I kept my head down, glancing around every now and again to see if there were any 'Help Wanted' signs in shops. So far I hadn't seen any, but that might have been because of the throng of people around.

Despite how late it was, people were still calling out their wares into the night air. Crowds gathered around stalls selling merchandise, and I briefly wondered if there was a festival of some kind going on.

Eventually, I found myself sitting at a stall manned my a young woman. An old lady sat next to me, slowly and meticulously slurping up noodles from a bowl of soup in front of her. I felt a brief stab of guilt, but I quickly turned my head.

"Can I get you anything, sir?" The young woman queried, smiling faintly. She had short, dark bangs framing face and a long, braided ponytail over one shoulder. She looked... Soft.

"Um, just water?" I asked hesitantly, wincing internally. "I... Don't have any money though..."

"Oh no, what happened?" The young woman asked, a frown creasing her brow momentarily.

"Ah..." I began, glancing over at the old woman who... hadn't changed expression. In fact, she seemed deaf to the world. "Well, I was, uh, travelling the Earth Kingdom to meet my grandfather in Omashu, but I was, uh, accosted by bandits. They... Took everything I had. I only have the clothes on my back now."

Great. I'd been in this world less than a day and I was already lying to people who had shown an interest in my life. But what the hell else could I do? Tell them the Devil had snatched me up from the afterlife and told me to go scare the shit out of the Avatar? Oh, and by the way, I'm a Firebender who set an old man's house on fire!

"That's so sad!" The young woman wailed aloud. It seemed she had forgotten my request for water. "And your poor grandpa in Omashu! Oh, those Fire Nation-!"

"Wait, wait," I cut in, latching onto her words. "What happened in Omashu?"

"Haven't you heard?" The young woman gazed at me, pity in her eyes. "The Fire Nation have taken over the city, and imprisoned King Bumi!"

I sat there for a moment, shocked. Okay, that confirmed when I was... The beginning of Book Two, or roundabouts? So that was still the same at least... The Avatar was in the Earth Kingdom, and was probably trying to reach Omashu. Given that news of the Avatar getting there hadn't been reported, I could assume that he was still in that cave, what was it... The Cave of Two Lovers? That's right, Oma and Shu. Thus, Omashu. Right.

"That's... _Terrible._ " I said, lamely, after a pause. "I have to get there as soon as possible, and save my grandfather!"

"Wait," the young woman cut me off and took hold of my arm. "What could you do? Against the Fire Nation? Are you an Earthbender?"

"Ah, no," I replied. Technically true. "But I could-!"

"Please." She said, gazing into my eyes. "Stay. Here, I'll even give you a meal, on the house! You must be hungry after having travelled so far."

"I... Yeah, I am." I said, surprised. This girl was incredibly naïve. I almost felt bad for taking advantage of her like this. "Thank you."

"I'm Mina." She said, even as she set about preparing the broth.

"I'm..." My mind raced as I tried to think of a name. I didn't want to giver her my real name, even though it probably wouldn't have made a difference. I glanced up, to see that stars were beginning to peek out from the veil of daylight. "Orion."

"Nice to meet you, Orion." She smiled, and placed the soup in front of me. I smiled at her, and she smiled back.

 **~/DA\\\~**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Devil's Advocate**_

 **Bartering 1.3**

Once I finished my broth, I thanked Mina for her gracious offer of the food, and asked if there was everything I could do to pay her back for it. At which point she had shaken her head, but offered her condolences on the supposed loss of my property, and pointed me to the Earth Kingdom outpost just east of here, if I wanted to report it to people who could do something about it. I thanked her again, and said I would do so in the morning.

"Oh no, you don't have anywhere to stay!" Mina cried, clutching her hands to her chest and looking genuinely upset.

"Oh, um, it's fine," I said, a little unnerved. "I can find somewhere, I'm sure. Don't worry about it."

Mina was already turning away. "Granny, is there anything you can do?" She was holding the wrinkled, liver-spotted hand of the old woman who had been sitting next to me, looking deeply into the old lady's eyes. I got the feeling that this kind of intensity was usual for her, given that the old lady seemed totally unfazed.

"Dear, you've just met this young man." She croaked, in that tone of voice one uses on a very young choice. "I do not think it wise to let him into my house."

As much as I wanted to protest that, the old lady had a point. She didn't know who I was, where I came from, or if I was even telling the truth about the bandit story. In her place, I probably would have done much the same.

"But Granny-!" Mina cried out, biting her lip and widening her eyes in what I'm sure was an attempt at a 'puppy-dog-eyes' attack.

"No means no, Mina." The old lady said gently, before returning to her soup. "I'm sorry."

Mina sighed, and turned back to me, bowing. "I'm sorry, Orion. I wish I could help more, but..."

"No, no, don't worry about it." I tried to laugh it off. "I've camped out in the woods before, I can do it again." Wow, that sounded much less self-pitying and manipulative in my head.

If anything, she grew more upset, but I was already waving her off. "But thank you anyway! And thanks for the free meal!"

 **~/DA\\\~**

I made my way back into the forest, this time looking for a place that I could rest my head. It a fairly warm night, so as long as I found somewhere to lie down, I could use my shirt as a pillow. I cast about in the forest, the darkness making it a lot more difficult than I would have liked.

I... Really wasn't sure what constituted a good patch of ground. Or if I even should sleep on the ground. Didn't Bear Grylls say you should sleep in a tree so, what, big cats don't kill you in your sleep? Fuck, I didn't know. I was beginning to realise just how inexperienced I was at this, and just how poorly this was going to go.

Well, I've committed now. No backing out.

I set myself down against a tree. I'd try to keep watch for a while, but I did need to sleep at some point. I padded my shirt beneath my head and laid back, eyes open. I considered starting a fire with my bending (and each time I thought that it seemed to grow just a little more miraculous) but decided that, since I was so close to that Earth Kingdom village, I didn't want to raise any suspicions.

I stayed awake for as long as I could, but it had been a long and stressful day. In short order, my eyes fluttered closed, my arms slumped, and I slept.

 **~/DA\\\~**

I say I slept, but mere moments after I slipped into the realm of dreams, I was awoken. By who? Take a guess.

"Sh!" Was the first thing Mina uttered as she woke me. Fortunately, I didn't yet have those instincts that would let me awaken into a fighting stance, or I'd have been screwed. "We have to hurry, I don't want Granny to think I'm helping you!"

It was fairly easy to deduce what was going on from there. Mina had felt guilty about me sleeping out in the woods, so whilst her Granny slept she had snuck out to invite me back into her home. God, the naivete of this kid...

"Mina, honestly, you shouldn't-" I tried to protest.

"No!" She replied harshly, in a stage-whisper. "I'm not going to let some poor, defenceless, innocent man be punished because of bandits!" She shook her head vehemently. "You are going to sleep in my house, and then in the morning you can go to the Earth base, and make your way to Omashu!"

"Well, if you insist..." I gave in. Honestly, it was difficult to try to refuse someone offering you a warm bed.

Or, as I soon found out, warm futon. Still, it was a hundred times better than sleeping on the ground in the forest. I flashed a grateful smile at Mina, and she responded by giving me a hundred-watt beaming grin.

She was so earnest. I half-thought she had some ulterior motives.

Still, I laid down on the futon, still clothed, and tried to get some more sleep.

"G'night, Orion." Came Mina's sleepy mumble.

"Goodnight, Mina." I replied, and closed my eyes.

 **~/DA\\\~**

When I awoke, Mina was already up and about, hustling and bustling around the room, getting ready for the day. She was already half-dressed, and as she wandered through the room apparently looking for some item of clothing, she was running a brush through her hair absent-mindedly.

"Oh! Orion! You're awake!" She said, sounding oddly pleased. "Just in time for breakfast!"

"Ah, yes," I said hesitantly, and carefully got to my feet, rubbing sleep out of my eyes. "Uh, good morning."

"Good morning to you too!" She replied cheerily. She paused in her preparations, swivelling to face me, still running a brush through – now that I noticed – unbraided hair. "Orion, are those... Your only clothes?"

I looked down. I was still wearing the sleeveless, open-chested red-and-black top, and the billowy trousers. I had remembered to take my sandals off before going to sleep, though. "Ye-es...?" I replied hesitantly. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh no no, that won't do at all!" Mina said, and hurried into her drawers, flinging clothes out haphazardly. "I think I still have some of my brothers old clothes in here somewhere..."

"Um, are you sure he won't mind me taking them...?" I asked, not only genuinely concerned but also fishing for information.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," Mina replied offhandedly. "He's gone to fight in the war against the Fire Nation, he won't miss them."

"... Oh." I responded lamely. "Uh, okay."

Mina hummed a little as she picked out different garments from her seemingly bottomless drawer. At one point she held up what seemed to be full-on Earth Kingdom battle armour, before replacing it and pulling out a more sensible, green robe affair. I breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't going to make me wear anything too ridiculous.

"Here," she finally said, cutting off her own humming. "Try these on. They should be bout your size."

I remained motionless for a moment as she tossed various items of clothing at me. Mina looked on expectantly. I coughed a little, clearing my throat. "Um, Mina?" I finally spoke up.

"Mm?" She responded, shifting her gaze to my face.

"I, uh, can't get changed whilst you're watching."

"Oh! Oh, right. Hehe. Sorry." She stammered, gaining a rather prominent blush, before fleeing the room.

I breathed out a sigh. Girls, am I right? I changed quickly into the garments she had brought me. My billowing trousers were much the same, only now in a dark green colour rather than the previous black. Instead of my useless red-and-black top from before, I now sported a brown-and-green patterned kimono, of sorts. What was the word? Um... Shihakusho? I think that was right. A shihakusho, except the skirt part of it was a lot shorter, ending around my knees instead of my ankles.

Once I had finished dressing, I waited for Mina to come back in silence. I debated playing around with my Firebending, but there were a lot of flammable materials around, and after what happened last time...

From downstairs, I heard a faint conversation.

"Hungry, eh, Mina?" The old woman – Mina's grandma – said. "Two bowls is a lot for a young girl such as yourself."

"Ah, well, uhm..." Mina hesitated, obviously trying to think of a good enough lie. "Well, I didn't have, ah, dinner, yesterday! S-so, I woke up extra hungry today! Yeah!" She sounded inordinately pleased at herself for having come up with such an easy lie.

"Well, that's fine, but be careful not to stuff yourself." Granny replied, sounding far more casual now than she had yesterday. She still spoke in that condescending, 'you're a toddler and you have to listen to me,' tone that would have driven me crazy. "I don't want my darling granddaughter to get too plump now!"

I winced. Man, that was downright _manipulative_!

"Well, don't worry, I won't!" Mina replied brightly. She seemed unaffected by her grandmother's tone. "S-so, I'll just eat these upstairs, then...?"

She seemed to be asking hesitantly, but at some unspoken word of assent, she began climbing the stairs to her room. I sat patiently waiting for her, trying to pretend I wasn't eavesdropping.

"Well, here's your food!" Mina smiled at me, placing one bowl in front of me. She sat opposite, legs folded and holding her soup in one hand. "Azuki bean miso soup, with Napa cabbage, spinach, and tofu. Enjoy!"

"Thank you," I said, smiling at her. She waved it off, but I continued. "No, really, for everything." I smiled, the beginnings of tears building up in my eyes. "You've done more for me than you can ever know." I was truly grateful, and the tears weren't fake – everything was beginning to overwhelm me, and I couldn't thank this strange girl enough.

We finished the rest of our soup in silence, though Mina had an odd smile on her face throughout.

As I was about to finish, there came a loud knocking from downstairs. "I'll get it, dearie!" Granny's old vice drifted upstairs, as she painstakingly made her way over to the door. "What is it?"

"Ma'am, have you seen this man?" There was a vague rustle of paper from downstairs, as the firm voice of the man spoke.

"Why yes, as a matter of fact I have. Why?" Granny replied, defensive and curious at the same time.

"Ma'am, we believe this man to be a Fire Nation spy." I froze, eyes widening. Were they talking about... Me? "Yesterday, in an act of unprovoked arson, he set the house atop the cliff path ablaze, nearly killing the elderly couple that lived there. We are looking to apprehend this man as soon as possible."

I remained frozen, stock-still, even as Mina gazed concernedly at me. "O-Orion? Are you alright?"

"I- I- I-" I tried to say something, anything, but my throat had closed up and my heart was pounding. I had half a mind to give myself up, but I needed to find the Avatar, dammit!

"Oh, dear," Granny replied, sounding concerned. "My granddaughter gave him a free meal last night and he didn't seem like a spy at all!"

This time, Mina was the one who froze. Her eyes widened, and she took a step back from me, fear painting her face vividly.

"Mina, wait, I promise, I can explain-" I was cut off by a gut-wrenching, horrified scream from Mina.

Almost instantly, I heard Earth Kingdom soldiers pounding up the stairs. Without hesitation, but with one final glance at Mina, I ran for the sole open window and leaped out into the open air.

 **~/DA\\\~**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Devil's Advocate**_

 **Bartering 1.4**

The fall from the second floor wasn't exactly high, so if I landed right I'd probably be fine – but I didn't want to risk it. I pushed my arms forward, _focused_ my anger and-

Jets of flame shot from my palms, slowing my descent enough to send me into an undignified roll on the ground, leaving me in the house's side alley, covered in dust. I coughed a little, beating my chest, and looked up. An Earth Kingdom soldier stood there, unarmed. An Earthbender.

"Hey! Firebender!" He roared, calling for his fellow soldiers. "Stop, you're under arrest!"

Panicking, I glanced back. There was a small passage leading behind the house. Looking back, to more Earthbenders had joined the first. Panicking, I waved both hands in front of me, sending a gout of flame careening towards them. They had to stop to throw up a wall, and I continued my escape.

The passage I had escaped down was narrow, and lead out onto another busy street. Even as I ran down it, however, another Earthbender had covered the exit. I glanced up. There was a stone wall to the right of me, and the lip of the house to my left wasn't too high up...

I leapt, on foot braced against the stone wall, and used both hands to blast me up onto the roof of the house, scorching the wall. The Earthbenders at either end of the passage slammed heir palms together, and columns of earth launched them onto the roof. I was already running while they were in the air.

I glanced up as I launched myself off another roof, my technique with the fire-launching now refined enough to let me reach across a busy street. The sun was over _there_ , and Mina said the Earth Kingdom base was to the east, so...

I turned suddenly as I landed, and launched off almost directly perpendicular to where I had been going. Another blast of heat and fire from my palms sent me rocketing off in that direction, and I smiled to myself as the Earthbenders in pursuit sailed past me, unable to change direction midair. They were quickly back on my tail, however.

I had no idea how I was going to escape these Earthbenders. They could keep up with me fairly easily by 'riding' a moving pillar through the town and with three of them there wasn't much chance of losing them.

I headed east. I had no idea where else I could go. All I knew was that the Earth Kingdom base was east of here, and that I could get directions to Omashu from there. So I kept running, leaping, and launching myself, from rooftop to rooftop – but I could tell I was tiring. And quickly. I needed a way to get these fucking Earthbenders off my tail, but I couldn't think of a way to-

No, I knew a way. Of course I did. I felt awful even thinking about it, but it was the only thing I could think of that would get these morons off my back.

I leapt once more, my foot powering off the lip off the building and, assisted by a blast of flame, I shot across the gap. As I did so, however, I brought my hands forward, and focused.

 _That fucking Devil-!_

An _enormous_ gout of fire gushed from my palm, and washed against the thin wooden walls of what looked like a bathhouse of some kind. At this time of day, it seemed unlikely that too many people would be in there- but as I sprinted across the roof of the building, flames licking at my feet as they engulfed the entire structure, I knew I wasn't in the right here.

Two of the three Earthbenders stopped to help keep he fire in check, but the third kept coming, only looking more enraged at what I had done. I gulped a breath, took a last leap and boosted myself with fire, finally clearing the town walls. I turned into a clumsy frontflip, landing awakwardly and stumbling. There was a slight clearing just beyond the walls before reaching the forest – and I needed to get that Earthbender off my back.

I spun after landing, facing the town and assuming what I hoped was a karate stance. I remembered it from an old Jackie Chan movie, anyway.

The Earthbender cleared the final wall as his pillar pushed him up, and he soared through the air with all the grace of a flying camel. When he landed however, he brought his fists down and slammed them into the ground, sending spikes of stone shooting up around his position. He had taken on what I assumed was an Earthbending stance.

We faced each other across the field of battle. I had my fists raised and clenched, one out in front of me, the other by my head. I was standing side on to present a smaller target. And I was very, _very_ tense.

The Earthbender ended up acting first. With a spin, he roundhouse-kicked a chunk of stone a little larger than my head off the top of one spike, sending it flying through the air towards me. I stepped out of the way awkwardly, ducking my head slightly and having to rest on my right hand in order to avoid falling over.

Another chunk of stone was already in the air, and I had to fire a blast from my hand directly into the ground in order to push me up and out of the way of the rapidly incoming projectile.

As I fell in the opposite direction, however, I overbalanced. Still, I made the best out of a bad situation – as I spun clumsily, my right arm hooked over my head and fired a quick blast of flame towards the Earthbender – who quickly brought up a wall of earth to harmlessly dissipate the attack. I was already moving forward, however.

This time I nearly tripped as I ran forth, but I fell onto my hands and nearly flipped over from the momentum. I thought quickly and, legs flailing wildly, released two crescent-shaped gouts of fire from my feet and sent them bursting towards the Earthbender. He had to awkwardly summon two spokes of earth from his spikes in order to deflect both strikes, one by his legs and one by his head, but even then the embers licked at his stomach.

He withdrew the two spokes and gazed at me, consternated. "Drunken Fist... Firebending?" He muttered, frowning intensely. "I'd have thought such a common style would have been unbecoming of you, 'superior benders.'" He sneered.

I had no comment for that – I didn't even really know what Drunken Fist was. So I kept moving, scrambling to my feet and hurrying forwards once more. I brought one fist up in an uppercut from a distance, unleashing fire as I did so, firing another, this time vertical, crescent of flame flying towards the Earthbender. I kept going however, jumping and kicking forward clumsily, again levering that fire reflex and kicking a jet of flame behind the initial crescent.

The Earthbender slammed his forearms together, and when the crescent reached the earth, it scorched and cracked it. The Earthbender grunted, and then the jet of flame slammed into the already-weakened earth wall. It cracked it, sending chunks of superheated earth smashing into the Earthbenders body and face, and this time he let out an actual yell of pain.

I pressed my advantage, but the Earthbender recovered far more quickly than I had anticipated, stomping his foot and slamming an outcropping of stone into my leg. I grunted and stumbled once more, and he took advantage of it to slam both fists into my back, sending me crashing to the ground, head-first into a raised platform of rock. I slammed into it side on, turning my shoulder at the last moment and rolling a way.

We were now in close quarters, and I took the opportunity to attempt a couple of punches to the Earthbenders gut. I didn't use my bending initially but- the Earthbender grabbed my hands and raised his foot instead of blocking!

I focused, and my hand lit aflame, scalding the hands of the Earthbender and causing him to cry out in agony. He stumbled back, frantically blowing on his palms between yelps of pain. I didn't let up – rushing forward, I grabbed the sides of his head and slammed his face onto my knee. He groaned, and slumped over.

I paused there for a few moments, panting. I nearly sat down to try and catch my breath, but as quickly as I had done so, I heard yells from the other Earthbenders. "Oh for fucks sake!" I hissed under my breath, and clambered to my feet once more, running off into the forest, eastwards bound.

 **~/DA\\\~**

Cutting through the forest was difficult. It was more overgrown in this area, more jungle-like than it had been for the other woodlands. I managed to fight through most of the way, resorting to focused Firebending when my own hands wouldn't suffice, and doing my best to prevent a forest fire.

Still, I was beginning to get a painful stitch by the time I managed to fight my way into a clearing. I fell to my knees, sucking in deep, painful breaths of the midday air. It felt like I had been walking for _hours_ , and I still had no idea how far away I was from he Earth Kingdom Base-

 _Oh_ , I thought. _There it is._

Just past the treeline rose huge stone walls, higher than I could ever be able to climb and – just to the right along the wall – an even higher, circular stone wall. The Earth Kingdom Base. I was closer than I thought.

My fervour renewed, I fought to my feet and kept going, moving past the stitch and breaking into a run, breaking through the treeline and moving through the foliage without grace, indiscriminately blasting fire when I couldn't immediately get through – and I was finally there. I was finally at the Earth Base.

There were a large set of double doors, wooden, set into the stone so neatly that I very nearly thought they were merely painted on. Instead, I slowed as I walked past, and knocked. Then I waited.

…

I knocked again, but there was still no response. I pushed at the heavy wooden doors – they didn't budge. I frowned, braced myself, and put my whole body into the push. When that still wasn't enough, I braced my legs on the ground, my back against the door, hands out in front of me, and-

Blazing jets exploded from my palms, shoving me back into the doors with incredible force, slamming them open, and sending me flying through.

"Ohhh, my head..." I groaned, hand to my temple. That had _not_ been the graceful landing I was aiming for.

I opened my eyes from where I lay face down on the ground – and bruised, bloodied face stared back.

"Aahhh!" I screamed, and leapt to my feet, arms raised. The broken and crumpled body of a man in Earthbender garb lay before me, eyes wide and body still. "Oh no..."

I gazed around, arms limp by my side and jaw open, uncomprehending. Suddenly, I very much knew what was wrong in this world.

For all around me, across the open courtyard of the Earth Kingdom Base, lay the broken, bloody bodies of Earthbenders, blood spraying against the walls in wide arcs, severed limbs strewn across the floor, and crushed discs of earth impaling men everywhere.

I turned around and noisily vomited. This was... This was... _This_ was the kind of thing I was up against? A murderous Avatar? An Aang who was not Aang? This was _awful_. I couldn't... I wouldn't...

I dropped to my knees. Just a few feet away lay the severed head of a thickly bearded man, blood pouring from his ragged stump of a neck, leaking from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

I got to my feet, eyes closed.

I was disturbed and horrified.

But I still had a job to do.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Devil's Advocate**_

 **Bartering 1.5**

Fortunately for me, the main meeting chamber was devoid of bodies. I was able to walk through without gagging, unlike the Base's courtyard. It looked like most of the battle had taken place out there, rather than in the quarters or meeting room of the base. I hadn't really been able to tell what happened, what had changed, but if it had been anything like in that episode... Maybe General Fong had gone too far in his manipulation of Aang.

And when he entered the Avatar state, he'd been a little angrier than he had before, a little more willing to do something unwise... And the Avatar state had carried that to its logical extremes. Or rather, illogical extremes. Who knows what effect that had had on the kid's psyche?

I reached the main meeting area and found maps and plans strewn about. I glanced at the plans momentarily, but what I was _really_ looking for was the maps – specifically, how to get to Omashu from here. I studied the map, and it labelled the various notable locations between here and Omashu... Particularly the Cave of Two Lovers.

I needed to head there if I was going to find the Avatar, and find out what exactly was going on with him. Then I needed to figure out how to fix it.

I looked around the meeting room more, trying to find anything else that could help me, like supplies or... Or a compass! That was ideal for my situation. I compared it to the map, turning it so that the magnet was pointing north. I laid it against where the map listed the Earth Kingdom Base as, and traced the location of the Cave of Two Lovers towards it. It was roughly... South east of where I was, across a river.

I nodded to myself, and stood. I couldn't delay now, or I'd lose my momentum.

I searched the rest of the base quickly, looking for more supplies again. I found a decent backpack I could use to carry things, and I loaded it up with as much food from the Bases stores as I could, prioritising the food that wouldn't spoil – not that I knew too much about which foods would spoil and which wouldn't.

I loaded up my pack, immediately realised that it was too heavy, and got rid of the stuff I couldn't handle. I left the base via the doors at the roof of the chamber, which lead out onto the tops of the walls, presumably for ease of access of the guards patrolling the walls. It served as a fairly useful pathway for me to travel along, allowing me to avoid the forest that would slow me down.

Still, I would eventually have to veer off of the walls, at least a little ways before I needed to cross the river. Then it wasn't far to the Cave of Two Lovers, and from there I could – fairly easily – reach Omashu, and find the Avatar.

I walked for maybe an hour along the walls before I had to leave the walls and take the ground route – fortunately, by that point there was a dirt path to follow. I looked around casually, noting that there wasn't anyone around, and vaulted over the walls. One hand below, blasting fire below me to stop me from falling too quickly, the other against the wall.

It worked... Pretty much. I fell slowly, sliding down the wall without incident, but it was fairly draining. I dropped the last few feet to the ground, and fought my way through the foliage to find my way to the dirt path. Once I reached the path, I looked around once more, verifying that there was no one nearby, and pulled out the compass. The path followed south east vaguely, so I could follow it at least to the river.

I had the map in my backpack if I really needed it to navigate, but hopefully once I reached the river I'd find the Cave of Two Lovers without incident – and maybe the Avatar.

I followed the path for a while, the scenery passing me by uneventfully, and I practiced my firebending while I walked.

I could fire out a decently-sized fireball with each punch, and prolonging that vague reflex whilst I swung would allow me to release a crescent-shaped blast. I hadn't realised it before, but it was actually fairly difficult to create fire from my feet – more difficult than from my hands, anyway. I could handle if I was prepared, and with a little more practice probably on reflex too. From anywhere else was beyond my reach, at least for now, as was motionless bending.

In order to get that... Reflex to open, it needed some movement, whether small or not. Even those Combustion benders tended to jab their head forward when firing, and I couldn't think of too many benders who hadn't moved at least a little while bending. Whilst that was probably _partially_ due to not wanting to remain too still during a fight, and partially due to the fact that it looked better on camera, there was probably a small part that was due to how difficult it actually was.

I could summon a fire in my palm with a brief movement of my hands, and there were a few other neat tricks I could do – lighting my fingers on fire was one, and I could sort of shape fire between my hands to form a... Fish shape? Some sort of animal, anyway.

I was practising this small shape manipulation when I came across... Music?

I slowed down, and shook my hands to get rid of the embers. I sidled up to a thick-trunked tree and peeked round the side, trying to see what the hell was going... On...

Holy shit, was that that group of nomadic musicians that met up with the Avatar? They were, like, serious stoners in the show, and I had _heavily_ sympathised with Sokka in that episode. Still... If I could join up with them to present less of a threat initially, I would be able to assess the issues personally and figure how to deal with them!

This was perfect.

I emerged from the trees and called out. "Hey! Excuse me!" The playing paused, and the group of five turned as one to face me. "Fellow travellers! It's, um, nice to see another face on the road."

"Hi to you too, man!" The lead musician called back with a laugh. "You heading anywhere in particular, friend?"

"Ah, yes." I replied, catching up with the group. "I'm headed to Omashu. And... I heard there was a tunnel underneath the mountain I could take as a shortcut?"

"Why yes there is!" The lead man seemed fairly... Exuberant. And cheerful. "The Cave of Two Lovers! Although... They say its cursed, and that anyone who enters is _dooooomed_ never to leave..."

I put on an appropriately scared face. "Oh dear..." I put on a concerned tone, and the musicians nodded in sympathy. "Well, I'm not gonna just let any cave beat me!" I took on an exaggerated pose.

The lead musician laughed. "I'm Chong." He said, offering a hand. I went to shake it, but he went into some kind of weird backhand slide and wiggled his fingers at me. "This is Lily, Moku, Song, and Mom." He gestured to his wife, the fat guy, and the two dancers in turn, who were continuing to shimmy in time to some imaginary beat.

"Orion," I replied, nodding to the group.

"Say, Orion, do you happen to play an... Instrument, _hmmmmmm_?" Chong asked, leaning in to me conspiratorially. His musician friends suddenly became very interested in my answer.

"Well, I had a few lessons with that," I replied a little nervously, pointing out the stringed instrument in his arms. He grinned, reached into his shirt, and pulled out a second one.

"Use my spare, lets see what you got!"

I tucked the strap around my shoulder, ran my hand across the strings... It was a little tighter than I was used to. I pressed my left hand into a chord at the top of the fret and played. It sounded different to what the other musicians had been playing, but... I moved through a few different chords, before looking up from the strings.

The musician and his friends were looking on with undisguised glee, unperturbed by the fact that I sounded nothing like them. "Friend," Chong sad, slinging an arm around my shoulders, "I believe I may have a proposition for you!"

 **~/DA\\\~**

"Moonlit floor glows in the darkneeeeess..." Chong sang, slightly out of tune. I strummed along, alternating between various simple chords. The group of nomads tended to let Moku and Lily play whatever they wanted, until they decided something was good enough to add permanently. It was fairly free-form, with Chong making up the words as he went along.

"And the sky is darkest in the night-tiiiiiiime..." They weren't the most innovative of lyrics.

It had been four or so hours since I'd met up with the nomads. We'd exchanged casual conversation since then, with the nomads telling me some of the stories of their travels – it mostly involved some shenanigan involving Moku, before they used the power of music and wormed their way out of it. It sounded fairly contrived, and I was pretty sure Chong was making things up most of the time.

Still, it was... Not exactly enjoyable, but it was an interesting insight into the culture of the Four Nations. Chong ended each story with a song to either conclude or sum up the tale, and the songs were far more narrative-based than the ones I was used to.

We were approaching the river now, the sound of a rushing stream loud enough to hear over our instruments. And... I could faintly hear voices. Slightly subdued, though at least one was a little louder than the others.

Was this... the Gaang? I assumed that slightly louder voice was Sokka, but the other two didn't sound as exuberant as I had expected them to. Perhaps this was one of the changes that had come about from the wish?

Also, did I just call Sokka, Katara, and Aang the 'Gaang?' Christ.

[color=transparent]Everyone knows that they're only the Gaang when they meet Toph.[/color]

The talking cut out when we got closer, and as we rounded the corner I saw Katara and Aang standing knee-deep in water, arms poised in a waterbender stance. Sokka was lying down on a wide leaf, floating in the middle of the river, Momo perched on his lap. And behind him... An actual, honest-to-god flying bison.

Holy fucking shit. I mean, bending was one thing – and it was an amazing thing, honestly – but having something this large, and this bizarre, was a _whoooole '_ nother thing.

"Heeeeey!" Chong said, pointing at the three of them. "River-people!"

"We're not river-people," Katara replied, sounding indignant.

"You're not?" Chong sounded confused. "Then what kind of people are ya?"

Aang scratched the back of his head nervously. "No people! No kind of people!" He sounded worried. "I mean... We're just people."

"Aren't we all, brother?" Chong replied, sounding as though Aang had said something very deep.

Sokka had marched up to the front of the trio, still wearing only a loincloth. Eurgh. "Who're you?!" He sounded wary. And a little more than annoyed – suspicious, definitely.

"I'm Chong," he replied, not sounding the least bit put-out. "And this is my wife Lily, and these are Moku, Song, Mom, and Orion." I waved. "We're nomads. Well, Orion's more of a recent addition. He was travelling to Omashu when we met up."

"Wait, you're heading to Omashu?" Katara broke in. "So are we! Aang is-!"

"Ve-ry happy to finally meet his relatives there! He's been looking forward to meeting them for months." Sokka cut Katara off. Looks like they didn't want people to know Aang was the Avatar, which was... Strange.

"Oh no," I said frowning. "You haven't heard? Omashu has been taken over by the Fire Nation!"

"WHAT?!" The three of them all yelled at once. I smiled internally. Looks like I was in.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Devil's Advocate**_

 **Bartering 1.6**

"So the Cave of Two Lovers is very near here," I said, spreading out the map in front of Sokka. "Omashu is just past that."

"I still don't understand why we can't go _over_ the mountain," Sokka said tersely, poring over the paper. "Appa is _surprisingly_ agile in the air, you know."

"There are too many," I replied, shaking my head. "You have to go through the tunnel." I pointed to the marking on the map. "It'll let you sneak through the Fire Nation emplacements, and reach Omashu – if that's still where you want to go. It's completely occupied by the Fire Nation, y'know."

I looked at Sokka closely out of the corner of my eye. I was interested to see how this would change things, if he knew the fate of Omashu. He nodded, looking uncomfortable. "Yeah, Aang... Has relatives that he really needs to see."

"Me too," I nodded. "My grandfather is stuck in Omashu, I need to go and find him – get him out of the city if possible."

"... Yeah." Sokka looked even more uncomfortable. He rubs his head. "Alright, I guess we don't have much of a choice... We'll take the secret underground path."

I nodded. "If you don't mind... Maybe I can join you on the way to Omashu?" I asked, sounding hesitant. "I know it's a little sudden, but... With all those Fire Nation soldiers around, it would be better to stick together as a group, y'know?"

Sokka, looked hesitant, and opened his mouth as if to refuse... But Aang cut in before he could reply. "If we're heading to the same place, I guess it doesn't matter, right?" While Sokka and I had been discussing the route to Omashu, he and Katara had been talking to the musical nomads I'd met up with. "Plus... I know a secret entrance, and I don't think you'd be able to get in otherwise." He gave me one of those patented Aang grins, but it seemed a little more... Shy, than it had on the show. Possibly a result of what happened in the Earth Kingdom Base?

Hell, I had no idea what had happened. Aang didn't seem at all murderous or vengeful, so that Avatar state idea was seeming more and more likely. In which case... He didn't seem as lively as a kid should be. So all his fears about using the Avatar state had come through – somehow, I needed to force him to realise that he would need the Avatar state.

For now, I would stick undercover with Aang and come up with a plan. It should let me find out if there were any other changes in the timeline – from the way that-fucking-Devil had described it, it had sounded like things were a little more catastrophic than just Aang being nervous about using what was a legitimately deadly weapon.

"Thank you," I grinned, acting relieved. "You don't know how much this means to me."

Aang nodded, and the three of us walked over to where Lily was building a flower circlet on Katara's brow. She looked up as we approached and smiled at Aang. He smiled back, and then the nomads stood up as a group.

"Chong..." I said, walking over to him. "Sorry, but it looks like we're going to be parting ways after the Cave. I really do need to get to Omashu, and these three said they didn't mind if I joined them."

"Well, Orion," Chong said, eyelids drooping. "I'll be sorry to lose you, but it sounds like you're going to Omashu, so..."

I stared. I figured out that Chong was a little... Vacant, up there, but... Wow.

We set off for the Cave soon after that, and as we approached, Appa became more and more nervous, to the point Aang had to urge him on from his side. We reached the front of the cave, Chong revealed that curse on the tunnel that supposedly made it un-traversable, and we entered.

Unlike in the original, it didn't look like the Fire Nation were on Aang's tracks, so there was no collapsing of the entrance to the cave, and Sokka seemed a lot less freaked out about the whole situation.

Of course, there was still the problem of Sokka wanting to make a map of the tunnels. I knew a couple of ways we could keep track of where we were going, fortunately.

"Y'know, if any of you are Earthbenders, you could make a line in the ground to keep track of whether we've been somewhere before." I suggested, as Sokka began to grow frustrated at his lack of progress on the map.

He immediately turned to Aang, his mouth opening, but Aang frantically waved his hands in front of his face. Sokka's mouth clicked shut, but I couldn't very well claim I hadn't seen it.

"Wait, Aang, you're an Earthbender?" I asked, and he facepalmed. And really, who did he think he was fooling with those Airbender tattoos? If he wanted to conceal his identity, he wasn't doing a great job of it. He hadn't even bothered to cover his head. "Wait..." I began, as though scrutinising him more closely. "I recognise those tattoos... And those are Airbender clothes. But, the Fire Nation-"

"Aang..." Katara turned to him. "We should just tell him. You wanted to spread news of the Avatar returning, and the Fire Nation already knows who you are anyway..."

"Yeah..." Aang sighed, and glanced over to the nomads. They were walking along some distance behind and providing a musical accompaniment to our journey through the Cave. "I... Am the Avatar."

"Really?" I blinked in mock surprise. "Wow. So... You could Earthbend us out of here easily, right?"

"N-no. I've only learned Waterbending so far, and my only attempt to learn Firebending ended with disaster. I guess I could give it a try, though?" He said, gaining a little of that character I remembered from the TV show I had so loved.

Aang took a deep breath, hands clasped together, and raised one foot high in the air... Before slamming it back down into the earth with force.

Nothing happened. Aang sighed.

"Sorry, guys," Aang said, looking disappointed. "This just means I really do need a teacher, though." He looked up, an expression of determination coming over his face as he gazed at the three of us – and wasn't it just a little exhilarating to be included in the same group as Sokka and Katara? "We need to get to Omashu and free King Bumi."

"So I guess you're not going there to rescue some relatives, huh?" I asked wryly, smiling a little. Aang looked guilty over the deception, and looked down. "Hey, I get it, you're trying to keep a low profile- I would too if I was in your situation."

"I was hoping to get King Bumi to teach me Earthbending," Aang explained without prompting from me. I was a little concerned over that – it struck me as just a tad too naïve. Still, they had managed in canon, so I guess there was no problem with it. "We were friends when I was just a kid."

I pretended to frown. "But... King Bumi's, like, a hundred years old. And... No Avatar has been seen for like a hundred years! Does that mean-!" I was mostly just pulling things out of my ass as to knowledge of canon, so I wouldn't have to act clueless about Aang's origins.

"Aang was... _Frozen_ in a ball of ice a hundred years ago, just before the Fire Nation started the Hundred Year War." Katara explained, glancing at Aang as she spoke. "He was only released when my brother and I found him trapped underwater."

"I see..." I said, pretending to think about things.

We were well into the caves now, and Sokka had struck up a torch about an hour ago, and it was beginning to run low. Sokka sighed as he looked at it, holding it closer to his map in order to gauge whether he was any closer to figuring out an exit. The light began to dim, the torch darkening as it ran out, and Sokka hurriedly began to pull out another torch – but I stopped it.

"Wait, look!" I stage-whispered, pointing to the ceiling of the Cave. Of course there was nothing to look at, not yet, but...

"What? What is it? I don't-" Sokka began, sounding frustrated, before the crystals on the ceiling lit up.

"Wow..." Breathed Katara and Aang simultaneously, and glanced at each other, before Aang blushed and looked away.

Sokka didn't notice. He was a little distracted being... Well, furious. "Wait, _that's_ the trick?! Walk around in the dark and wait for the crystals to light up?! And I was just wasting time on this map, when we could have already been out by now! Graaah!" He sounded very frustrated.

"Sokka, you have got to calm down, man," Chong interrupted, having approached during our discussion. "This trip isn't about the _destination..._ It's about the _journey..._ " Sokka growled, but Aang and Katara cut him off, laughing.

"This is-! You are-! I am-! Gaaah!" He yelled again and stomped off in the direction the crystals indicated, with the musical nomads, the Gaang and I following.

Oh, Sokka. Never change.

 **~/DA\\\~**

We reached the end of the Cave of Two Lovers without incident – unless you counted Sokka once more getting enraged over the nomads composing a song about him, encapsulating the tale of his attempt to reach the destination without experiencing the journey.

Katara, Aang and I liked it.

Anyway, we exited the Cave, parted ways with the nomads – "We'll be happy to take you back any time, Orion!" - and made our way to the top of the mountain path, where we could look down on Omashu- and see exactly what the Fire Nation had done.

"I..." Aang began, staring out with horror. "I expected the Fire Nation, but seeing it in person..." He shook his head and shivered. "We have to get in there and rescue Bumi."

Katara put an arm around his shoulders and hugged him tight against her. Sokka looked on at Omashu, an expression of shock fixed on his face, that – even as I watched – transformed into one of determination.

"We will, Aang." Sokka said firmly, and said Airbender looked up at him. "We're gonna go in there, we're gonna save King Bumi, and we're gonna liberate Omashu." I gaped in shock.

"Sokka, what do you-" Katara tried to cut in, but he overrode her.

"Katara, remember the devastation the Fire Nation can cause?" Sokka said, staring into her eyes, dead serious. "Remember the Northern Water Tribe? Remember our home?" Katara nodded slowly. "Well, maybe we can't prevent that here. But we can do everything we can to help the people of Omashu fight off the Fire Nation. There has to be a resistance, right? We'll meet up with them, make a plan to rescue Bumi, and get the Fire Nation _out_ of Omashu. You with me?"

"I'm with you," I quickly said. "I've seen what the Fire Nation can do. If we can get rid of them, help stop them from taking over the Earth Kingdom? I'll do whatever I can." It couldn't hurt to ingratiate myself with Sokka a little more.

Aang and Katara slowly nodded. "Yeah," Aang said, as if the realisation of what he could do was slowly dawning on him, "We can fight them off! That's what the Avatar is for, right?"

"Right!" Sokka grinned, and for a moment I sensed the two boys truly connected in their goals.

Katara sighed. "You boys..." She muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. "... Are idiots. But you're my idiots." She grinned. "I'm in."

And so in we went, prepared to fight off the Fire Nation – or, so we thought.

 **~/DA\\\~**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Devil's Advocate**_

 **Bartering 1.7**

Crawling through the sewers was an ordeal. Jesus, the fucking _stench_! Maybe it was just because I, comparatively, hadn't been through as much as the other members of our little quarters, but it seemed as though I was the most effective by the time we exited Aang's 'secret entrance.'

I bent over and put my hands on my knees, trying to stop myself from gagging after trekking through endless pipes of raw sewage. The others looked barely affected, I noted sourly.

When Sokka finally crawled out, covered in gunk from the sewage, Aang had to blast the excess off of his body with a blast of air.

"Aang!" I hissed sharply. "We're in enemy territory now! _Please_ don't go using your Airbending without good reason!" I glanced around and Aang looked down, chastised. "Alright, we need to get you something to cover your head. Your tattoos are pretty obvious, and you're probably known throughout the Fire Nation by now."

"Right," Aang replied, looking serious for once, and peered into the gloomy night. He snatched up some spare fabric from a market stall and wrapped it around his head like a turban, then pulled his sleeves down over his hands.

"Gggghkkk!" Sokka grunted as he stumbled past us, trying to yank off a tiny octopus-looking thing from his face. He wasn't having much success – I was impressed by how powerful the suckers on these things were. Wait – could other animals learn Waterbending? Humans learnt it from the moon, right?

"Here," Aang offered, and rubbed one finger on the back of the octopus-thing's head. It closed its eyes in a horrifically cute impression of someone being tickled, and lifted its suckers off of Sokka's face.

"Alright," Sokka said, once he had composed himself. He was scratching at the sucker marks on his cheek. "We need to find the resistance. Bumi will either be with them or imprisoned by the Fire Nation, and it'll be a lot safer if he's with the resistance. First, we-"

"Hey!" The group spun round as one to face he Fire Nation soldiers approaching. "What are you doing out here? The curfew is still in effect."

I glanced to the side. Aang and Sokka looked frozen. "Oh, sorry, my friend here," Katara stepped forward, indicating Sokka, "Has, um, pentapox. We were just taking him to get... His... Medicine."

"P-pentapox?" The lead guard said, taking a step back. Sokka groaned and scratched at his face. "Didn't your cousin die of that? Let's get out of here!" And as quickly as they arrived, they were gone.

"Nice, Katara," I grinned. "That was some pretty quick thinking on your part." She blushed at the compliment and looked away modestly.

"Oh, it was nothing, really." Katara replied, flapping one hand.

"Alright," Sokka cut in, focusing us once more. "We still need to find the resistance. And with the amount of Fire Nation soldiers around, it won't be easy. Any ideas?"

"Well..." I said, scratching my chin and thinking. "We could stage an attack on some soldiers, see if they contact us?" I suggested. In canon, I think they'd just wandered around hoping to find Bumi, and only met up with the resistance by accident.

"Too risky," Sokka said, frowning. "If the Fire Nation send more soldiers before this resistance arrives, we might be overrun." He sighed. "It's getting late. We should find somewhere to rest, see if we can think of something in the morning."

There was a chorus of agreement from the group, and we set about trying to find shelter.

 **~/DA\\\~**

Eventually, we found ourselves in an abandoned, partially collapsed warehouse building, where we piled some of the various pieces of cloth around the warehouse beneath our heads, and lay down to rest.

It certainly wasn't the most glamorous of sleeping arrangements, but hey, I'd been prepared to sleep in the forest just last night, so I couldn't exactly complain.

We were awoken the next morning by the calling of Fire Nation soldiers out on the streets. Sokka was already peering out of the window, and upon the rest of us waking up, he waved all three of us over.

A contingent of Fire Nation soldiers was marching down the street outside. As we watched, two Firebenders emerged from a woman's house and rejoined the contingent. More soldiers entered other houses, where you would then hear muffled sounds of things being moved around and broken, before the soldiers would exit the house and rejoin the contingent.

As they marched, the leader roared to those watching. "Anyone found to be hiding a member of the resistance will be considered guilty of high treason, and will be executed on the spot! Those found to have knowledge of others harbouring resistance members, and did not come forward, will be publicly punished!"

Oh dear. I did not remember this at all.

Quickly and quietly, we made our way downstairs tot he entrance, and slipped outside as the Fire Nation contingent passed. We emerged standing next to a middle-aged woman with an expression of fury on her face.

"What happened?" Katara asked, sounding horrified.

"Didn't you hear?" The woman turned to Katara. "The resistance carried out a hit on the Fire Nation last night. They killed the governor's wife." The woman spat. "Serves those Firebender scumbags right. After everything they did to this city, I'm glad there's still a resistance to fight back." She turned slowly to Katara, as though realising what she had just said. "Ah... Don't tell anyone I said that, will you?"

Katara shook her head. "Honestly... We're with you." She gestured to Aang. "This is the Avatar." Aang lifted his turban, revealing the arrow tattoo on his scalp. I was uneasy with how quickly Katara gave up such crucial information, but...

The woman gasped, then looked around discreetly. "You'll be wanting to meet up with the resistance then, won't you?" She gestured to the four of us, before taking Katara's hand and slipping into an alley. We followed. "Come with me, I know the way."

Sokka and I exchanged glances as we followed. His hand slowly went to the boomerang on his back, and I nodded, holding my fists up slightly. Consensus reached, we turned forward and followed Aang and Katara.

 **~/DA\\\~**

We were lead into some tunnels underneath Omashu via a small, manhole-cover-looking grate hidden underneath a rug in an abandoned house. Sokka and I followed at a distance, Aang just in front of us, and Katara by the woman's side. Aang would occasionally turn and walk backwards, marvelling at the Earthbending that must have gone on in these tunnels.

Eventually, the tunnel began to widen, and opened out into a large cavern, steps and platforms cut into the walls with Earthbending. As we entered, the numerous amounts of people within stopped what they were doing and looked up.

"Rinya!" A gruff, bearded man spoke, coming to a stop before the five of us. "What are you doing with these kids?"

"Yung," Rinya replied, stepping aside and gesturing to the four of us. "They're not just kids. They're travelling with the Avatar."

"The Avatar?!" Yung stepped up to the platform we were on as Aang lifted his turban off his head. "Does that mean... You're here to help liberate Omashu from the Fire Nation!?"

Aang nodded. "We are." He said levelly, before peering around. "Is King Bumi here? Is he leading the resistance?"

"What?" Yung sounded confused. "No! Of course not! The day of the invasion, we readied ourselves for battle..." As Yung began his delivery of exposition to the Gaang, I peered around. The number of people down here was... A lot more meagre than I had remembered from the show. Or maybe I was misremembering? There couldn't have been more than fifty civilians down here, not including the obvious Earthbender guards.

"Bumi... Why...?" Aang muttered to himself, eyes downcast. Then he shook his head, his expression hardening. "Alright, that just means we have to find him and get him out of the Fire Nation's custody. He can explain himself." He sounded hopeful.

Yung's expression morphed into a snarl. "I hope I never see that traitor again-" He began, but Aang cut him off.

"I need someone to teach me Earthbending if I'm ever going to become the full Avatar," Aang cut in. "So for now, we try to free King Bumi, and you start to come up with a plan for liberating the city."

Wait... That wasn't how things had gone in canon. The fuck? Aang was supposed to convince people they should leave, not stay. Then King Bumi would tell him that stuff about 'Neutral Jing' or whatever, and that he needed to find a different Earthbending master to teach him, then they head to Ba Sing Se!

"Alright," Yung said. "It's a plan. You can leave at sun down – we don't know where they're keeping Bumi, so you'll be on your own. If you do find him, bring him back here and he can start teaching you." Yung nodded, and shook hands with Aang.

How the fuck had this happened?!

 **~/DA\\\~**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Devil's Advocate**_

 **Bartering 1.8**

Aang, Katara, Sokka and I decided to split up to search for King Bumi. Aang had a much higher mobility than the rest of us, so it was me, Katara, and Sokka on the lower levels, whilst Aang searched the higher ones. I... Honestly wasn't sure what would happen now. Canonically, the governor's kid was 'kidnapped' by Momo, and he set up a trade to get him back. But... Would that ridiculous series of events ever happen, what with the ever-so-slight changes I had introduced?

I had no clue. But I did know that King Bumi was _probably_ not where we were looking, around the bottom of the barracks that had been set up for the Fire Nation soldiers.

Still, I didn't know if I should point that out to Sokka and Katara. They probably already knew that they wouldn't be finding Bumi – if anyone would, it'd be Aang. Still, we began to make our way up the structures around the new statue that was being built – I'd not-so-subtly guided the three of us there, as I sort-of remembered Bumi being somewhere around there.

It was on a wooden platform around the stomach of the statue that we found Aang, looking even more depressed and downhearted than ever.

"No luck?" Sokka guessed, and Aang nodded miserably. Katara hugged him, Sokka put an arm around his shoulder, and I just stood slightly off to the side, a little awkwardly.

We returned to the Earth Kingdom base, downtrodden and disappointed. Yung only had to take one look at us to know we had failed, and I could have sworn a ghost of a smile flickered across his face. Whether this was relief at the fact we hadn't found the man he swore he hated, or something more sinister, I was unsure.

"We've developed a plan for an attack on the governor and his contingent," Yung began, without preamble. "But it relies on all the citizens being safely out of the city, and we can't find a way to get so many people out. We were hoping you might be able to help."

His statement was directed at Aang, but by the way he, Katara and I all subtly turned to Sokka it was clear he was the planner of the group. Aforementioned Water Tribe boy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. I smiled inwardly. There had been a disturbing moment when I thought canon had gone completely off the rails, but Sokka was about to come up with the pentapox plan, and everything would be about to go back to how it should be-

"Aang brought us into the city through a secret tunnel," Sokka finally replied. Wait, what? "If the four of us, plus some of your Earthbenders, made a distraction, could another few Earthbenders take the civilians out of the city, small groups at a time?" Despite how horrified I was, I experienced a little thrill at the notion of being included in 'the four of us.'

"It's a little tight," Aang murmured in reply, brow furrowed. "You'd have to travel in twos for the whole way, and people would have to walk through quite a distance of sewage."

"At this point," Yung said firmly, "I think we'd walk through a mile of sewage up to our necks to get out of here."

Aang nodded. "Then it's a plan. How many Earthbenders do you currently have with you?"

"Including myself, nine." He replied. "Most were rounded up the day after the invasion and imprisoned. We had hoped to break them out during the attack on the governor."

"Okay," Sokka said slowly. "If two come with us to create a distraction, three escort the civilians through the secret entrance, and the rest go and break out the other Earthbenders... That should work?" Sokka raised his voice towards the end, glancing towards the closest thing to a military commander, Yung, for approval.

"Sounds good," Yung nodded. "Swing by the prison first, try to attract the attention of most of the guards there so we can break in more easily."

"Right." Sokka replied, and joined Yung in poring over a map of the city, hashing out the finer details of the plan.

Apparently we were taking over Omashu.

 **~/DA\\\~**

"Hey, Orion..." Sokka's voice said, softly, from behind me. I was looking over the Earth Kingdom Base from a kind of balcony near the top of the hollowed out cave.

"Yeah?" I turned to face Sokka fully, elbows resting on the guard of the balcony. "What's up?"

"Well..." Sokka sounded hesitant, couldn't look me in the eye, and was rubbing the back of his head with his right hand. "Me, Katara and Aang were talking, and..." My heart rate quickened. What was going on? Had they found out about what I did in that Earth Kingdom town? That I was a Firebender? "We decided that you shouldn't come with us for the distraction."

Wait, what? "Wait, what?" I voiced my thoughts, brow furrowing. "Why not? I can help you guys out, I can be a part of the distraction."

"That's just the thing." Sokka said, apologetic. "We... Don't want you to get hurt. And you don't have any actual combat experience, or any bending..."

"So?" I replied, becoming a little frantic. "You don't have any bending, and you manage just fine!"

"I'm Katara's brother," he responded, "And I do have verified combat training, plus my own weapons that I know how to fight with. If you have that, we'd be happy to bring you aboard, help us distract the guards, but, if you don't..."

I steamed silently for a few moments. "...No. I don't." I finally spoke up. "What would you have me do instead?"

"We think you should be evacuated alongside the rest of the civilians," Sokka said promptly. I was annoyed at how he used 'rest,' implying that I was also a civilian – but I obviously couldn't tell them I was a Firebender who'd beaten the shit out of a pursuing Earthbender. "You can wait for us in the refugee camp they're setting up, and join us later on, or you can set off. We'd be sorry to see you go, but if that's your choice..." He trailed off.

"I'll... I'll wait for you." I replied.

"Good, that's... That's good." Sokka tried a weak smile. I returned it briefly, then turned my back on him and resumed watching the preparations for the evacuation.

 **~/DA\\\~**

"Move it along now, woman and children first!" The Earthbender overseeing the evacuation boomed. He was a fairly tall fellow, with thickly banded, muscled arms. He also had a nose that reminded me of an troll, or ogre, or other vaguely unattractive creature. The distraction had already been started – we'd all borne witness to Aang sweeping a trio of Firebenders off their feet just outside the secret passage, crying that he was the Avatar, and escaping at a relatively slow pace towards the prison.

Two Earthbenders, plus myself, were watching over the procession of civilians out of the city. What few able-bodied men remained were helping to smooth along the evacuation, with the elderly, women and children at the front. It was... Fairly boring, all things considered, and the Earthbenders were ready to stop any disputes in their tracks, lest they give away our position.

Not that there was too much need for it, most people were quite happy to be getting out of the city and away from the Fire Nation. Still, there was the occasional argument over who was in front, over stepping on someone's toes, et cetera et cetera. Tempers were high and people were worried about being discovered.

Far off in the distance, a plume of fire rose into the sky. Momentarily, everyone looked towards it, eyes, widened, but the Earthbenders soon took control.

"Nothing for you lot to worry about!" Troll-nose yelled. He was a pretty calm, chilled-out guy, and most people seemed content to listen to him. Maybe that's why he pulled evacuation duty. "Keep it moving, and keep calm!"

People had gotten a little more nervous now – including me. I sidled over to Troll-nose.

"Hey," I murmured, just loud enough for him to hear. "I'm gonna go check that out, okay?"

"What?" Troll-nose replied, a little louder than was strictly necessary. "No way. Yung said you were to be evacuated with the rest of the civilians."

"That's true," I replied. "But consider this – if I run now, you won't be able to catch me without leaving these civilians behind." I stepped slightly further away, and Troll-nose turned an angry gaze on me. I grinned cheekily, turned, and trotted off at a leisurely pace.

 **~/DA\\\~**

Moving through the abandoned streets was... Actually fairly relaxing. I could jog along without worry of being seen, muse to myself about the situation, and generally try to avoid thinking about the dumb thing I'd just done.

I made my way towards where the giant plume of fire had erupted, near the statue that had just begun. It was probably fairly dangerous to have a bending fight on a wooden platform, but hey, who was I to judge?

I reached the main fight in short order, the sounds of battle filtering into my ears the closer I got. The ominous crackle and boom of fire, the grinding of moving earth, and – just in the distance – the gentle swish of water, and the rush of air.

I blinked. Looked like damn near everyone was going at it. I peeked round the corner of the building I was hiding behind, and my eyes widened. It was a full-scale _war_ out there.

A crowd of Earthbenders had created a fairly large wall to ward off the attacking Firebenders, and several more were gathered atop the wall, launching chunks off rock into the platoon of Firebender guards. They were succeeding in fending them off – for now. Fortunately, it looked like the Firebenders weren't having much luck breaking through the gigantic wall that had been set up.

I edged around the main fight, to the back of the statue, and raced up some stairs. At the top, three Earthbenders were waiting, fists raised.

"Halt!" The leader barked at me. "Or we will send you back down!" I glanced behind me – there was a fairly long drop off one side to the ground. I gulped.

"Please!" I cried. "Don't bend! It's me, Orion! I'm a friend of the Avatar's!" The leader narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but the Earthbender to his left stepped forward and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, Yon, I know this guy." He said. "He hangs around with the Avatar's friend." Yon nodded warily, sinking back into a more relaxed stance. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright. You may continue. But be warned, the lady up there can... Lightning-bend, somehow. It shoots right through our Earthbending. The Avatar ordered us to back off."

I narrowed my eyes. Just as I thought – Azula had arrived.

I raced past the Earthbenders, through some scaffolding that was being built around the hand, and peeked through. Katara was unconscious, laid off to one side, and Sokka was desperately dodging around the thrown knives of what I recognised as Mai. Aang was – somehow – fending off the attacks off both Ty Lee and... Wait, where was Azula?

I barely managed to dive forwards in time to avoid the crackling roar of flames blasting through the air behind me, sending me into an uncontrolled roll forwards, across the wooden platform and right into the view of both Sokka and Aang.

I realised, perhaps for the first time, just how bad of an idea this was.

"Orion!?" Aang and Sokka yelled at the same time, and Mai took the opportunity to boot Sokka in the chest, sending him flying backwards to slam against a pole, next to where Katara's unconscious body lay. Aang broke off from his opponent, an Airbending-assisted backflip landing him right next to Sokka and Katara. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee, slowly approached my fallen body, moving to surround me.

"Avatar." Azula drawled in that incredibly-fucking-annoying voice of hers. "Is this a friend of yours?" She lashed out a vicious kick into my stomach, and I groaned and curled around the injury. "He doesn't look too good."

"Stop! Don't hurt him!" Aang cried out, teeth gritted and eyes focused on me.

Azula smirked, and kicked again. "Maybe we can arrange a trade, hmmm? You give yourself up, and I'll allow your Water Tribe friend over there to take this sorry excuse for a human with him. Sound good?"

I wheezed, getting to one knee. "Don't do it Aang! She'll kill me anyway, take away your bending, and then capture Katara and Sokka! Don't trust her! Just run- Oof!" Azula slammed her heavy boot onto my back, sending me crashing to the floor once more, her boot pressing heavily into my back.

"Aang, listen to Orion. We have to go." Sokka looked apologetic, but he had scooped Katara up in his arms. He was clearly more worried about his sister than he was about some random guy he'd met just a few days ago.

"You go, Sokka." Aang said, and Sokka hesitated. "Evacuate Katara, make sure she's safe." That seemed to firm his resolve, and Sokka raced off, carrying Katara in a bridal carry.

"Aang, don't worry about me," I said, preparing. I really didn't want to do this, but if it came down to it...

"Orion, you can't be serious-" Aang tried to protest, as I wriggled my way to be lying on my back.

"Don't worry, I'll escape, and meet up with you. Run." I was desperately urging Aang now, because I really didn't want to reveal my Firebending in front of him.

"Oh, you won't be escaping _anywhere_ ," Azula smirked, raising two fingers, electricity crackling at her fingertips.

"Orion!" Aang cried, stepping forward.

I brought my legs up to my chest. "Aang, _run_!" He did nothing. I groaned internally. "I'm sorry, Aang." I murmured, barely loud enough for him to hear.

"Orion? What are you-?"

I lashed out with both feet, bright flames tearing into existence and blasting Mai off of the platform, sending Azula's aim wide, and causing Ty Lee to roll into a cartwheel. They recovered quickly, but...

I glanced towards Aang.

He paused, his expression flashing through a frightening number of permutations.

Then he turned and, with a blast of air beneath him, left.

I turned to where Azula and Ty Lee now faced me.

I was screwed, wasn't I?

 **~/DA\\\~**


End file.
